Spartans capture tournament crown

Dave Scherbenco / The Citizens' Voice
Jaquan Ingram of Wyoming Valley West hauls down a rebound in front of Dave Chromey of Old Forge in the championship game of the Schifano Turnament at Wyoming Area.

EXETER - The Wyoming Area Holiday Tournament Final wasn't one for the highlight reel with more than 30 combined turnovers, but it was a learning experience for two teams about to enter league play.

When it was all said and done, Wyoming Valley West used a suffocating defense, allowed just one double-digit scoring quarter and overcame 14 turnovers of its own to take down Old Forge 43-38.

In the consolation game, Dallas claimed third place with a win over the host Warriors.

"We played real hard. Especially in the zone area, we played a good game. And we didn't do too bad when we got into the man to man in the half court," Valley West coach George Reimiller said.

"But we get lazy. That's our problem. We've got to be ready to play 32 minutes and today, we probably played about 27 minutes. For five minutes we fell asleep and that lets a team right back in it."

Those five minutes came in the fourth quarter after the Spartans led by as many as seven in the first half and had not trailed the entire game.

A Lucky Williams three with just over five minutes left in the game was the only fourth-quarter field goal for Valley West, and with two minutes remaining, a Jake Manutti bucket drew the Blue Devils to within two.

Brenden Wahl then stripped Williams with 1:36 left forcing another frustrating Spartan turnover. Old Forge called timeout and executed to perfection from out of bounds, finding Brian Tomasetti, who had a game-high 17 points, wide open under the basket.

Despite making practically everything he shot leading up to that point, Tomasetti missed the wide open layup with 1:10 left on the clock.

Brett Good, who led the Spartans with 14 points, then knocked down six consecutive free throws to put the game away.

Williams was the only other Spartan in double figures with 10 points while Jaquan Ingram, who battled foul trouble and physical interior defense from Old Forge, finished with eight points to go along with 11 rebounds and four blocks.

Old Forge was led by Tomasetti's 17 points while Manutti chipped in with nine.

"Our goal was to come out with three or four wins in the preseason with the schedule we had and we ended up with three," Reimiller said. "I'm quite pleased going into league play."

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